{"id":1737,"date":"2020-07-20T07:34:23","date_gmt":"2020-07-20T07:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=1737"},"modified":"2020-07-20T07:44:49","modified_gmt":"2020-07-20T07:44:49","slug":"winemaker-series-rod-mcdonald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/winefolio.co.nz\/?p=1737","title":{"rendered":"Winemaker series: Rod McDonald"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Heading back to visiting wineries and vineyards after weeks and months of Lockdown restrictions; I found myself on the motorway out of Auckland at 5am one morning. Later that day I met up with another of New Zealand’s current crop of award-winning of winemakers. Live from their Te Awanga Cellar door \u00a0– Rod McDonald<\/strong>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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WineFolio<\/strong>: Lets\u2019 start with some easy ones \u2013 can you tell me how you got started in winemaking \u2013 was it in Hawke\u2019s Bay?<\/p>

Rod McDonald<\/strong>: I moved to Hawke\u2019s Bay in 1993 to start a job at Vidal<\/strong>\u00a0as a cellarhand, and then I was there with George for 14 years, and took over as winemaker in late \u201997; and then in 2006 eventually left to start my own wine business. Which was initially called Rod McDonald wines<\/strong> and that\u2019s where we started making Quarter Acre. So the first vintage of that was around 2007-2008. As well as building a branded wine business, did a lot of consulting and contracting for other people \u2013 around Hawke\u2019s Bay but also some bigger clients in other parts of the country. So making wine for other wineries, and that has built at the same pace and time as the branded wine business. Still do that \u2013 when I left the Villa Maria Group<\/strong> my role was a very specific, technical, hands-on, winemaking role. And when you start your own business, you have to look at your skills, and what other people can\u2019t do \u2013 and winemaking was the advice I could generate income from.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Then as the business has grown, we have leased and purchased and accumulated vineyards along the way. We then re-branded everything under Te Awanga Estate<\/strong> about three years ago; and as we are now, we farm about 70 hectares across Hawke\u2019s Bay in three main sites. We\u2019ve got a total of eight vineyards, but five of them are really small, just a couple of hectares each. About three quarters of that is under organic farming, certified by BioGro<\/strong>; and the other 25% is still in conversion. The wines we make, apart from our entry level wines, are all Estate-grown. So we don\u2019t buy in fruit for Trademark<\/strong> or Quarter Acre<\/strong> or the Te Awanga Estate<\/strong> wines.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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We don\u2019t own all the eight vineyards \u2013 that would be nice \u2013 but we do all the farming.<\/p>

In terms of range or tiers, we have our Trademark which is our top wine \u2013 we\u2019ll try the Chardonnay and Syrah today. And the Quarter Acre is the Reserve series, and then we have our Te Awanga Estate \u2013 a range of six wines, red and white. And then we have \u2018the Loom<\/strong>\u2019 which is actually the Reserve wine for the Te Awanga Estate \u2013 so it\u2019s grown right here as a single vineyard. Then we\u2019ve got our \u2018one-offs\u2019 which as the name suggests is small-runs of peculiarities.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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WF<\/strong>: I would say that as well as the range, I think you\u2019re equally known for doing lots of interesting stuff. It\u2019s almost \u201cwhat are they going to do next?\u201d type of thing where people follow you on Social Media to keep up to date with the new, eclectic wines you\u2019re doing, so they don\u2019t miss out!<\/p>

RM<\/strong>: That\u2019s what the One-offs are for. It goes back to that original thing you know, where I don\u2019t come from a business angle, I come from a winemaking angle. And that\u2019s the fun part. Winemaking is about trying some stuff and playing with ideas, varieties and techniques.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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WF<\/strong>: That\u2019s the \u2018craft\u2019 part of it. Almost like craft beer \u2013 where people are always after something new. In a craft beer place, they want to have something new straight off. Then they might settle back to their tried-and-trusted.<\/p>

RM<\/strong>: That\u2019s bang on. For us, it\u2019s brings people to us, keeps them interested, keeps us interested and it keeps us driving forward in terms of techniques, varieties and styles. But the danger is that you build a reputation for the peculiar and you don\u2019t transition people into the stable. We love making the one-offs, but we\u2019re serious about the fine wines that we make.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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WF<\/strong>: So is there a danger that you\u2019re everyone\u2019s a favourite \u2018quirky\u2019 winemaker, but not their favourite serious wine?<\/p>

RM<\/strong>: Exactly, our ambition is that we demonstrate our understanding, and expertise in crafting some of Hawke\u2019s Bay\u2019s best and most classic styles of wine \u2013 Chardonnay, Merlot, Syrah. But then we are real people, and we enjoy what we\u2019re doing and are enthusiastic about it, and Hawke\u2019s Bay is more than just those traditional wines.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I think it shows something and people would take the story from that \u2013 that you\u2019re not just standing still. You\u2019re not just doing the same-old, same-old. I like that. I would liken your brand to Framingham<\/strong> in that you\u2019re eclectic, a bit irreverent and quite Rock n roll \u2013 with almost musical elements to your work. And I think wine often does, in an artistic sense. But also places like Terra Sancta<\/strong> who\u2019ve got some of the oldest vines in Bannockburn, but are in no means standing still. Doing a skins-y Gewurz or an Italian blend.. I hugely respect that approach.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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RM<\/strong>: People may come looking for a One Off wine that we made last year, and we don\u2019t have that now, but \u2018this is what we\u2019re thinking now\u2019..<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: And some of what you\u2019ve done will inform what you do all the time. You\u2019ll try a natural ferment or something and it will be partly adopted into other wines?<\/p>

RM<\/strong>: I could point to wines in our range that started as a one-off and then became part of it full time.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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We grow Sauvignon here at the coast, but we also grow it 35-40km inland. So we\u2019ve got an inland vineyard and a seaside vineyard, and the difference in flavour profile and wine style that you produce by being 40kms apart is phenomenal. Te Awanga has got this beautiful chalkiness to the acidity, a lovely lemongrass, fennel bulb character that comes through. It\u2019s quite a herbal style and we tend to pick it a brix or two less than we pick the inland block.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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But the inland block produces a wine that\u2019s much more textural, much more fruit-forward, lower acidity \u2013 and quite unique! You can\u2019t suppress the typical exuberant New Zealand fruit, so you have to figure out a wine style that still offers complexity, nuance and drinkability that you see with European wines, but it\u2019s got to have this thread of New Zealand as well.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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In Europe, people might taste a New Zealand Chardonnay and describe it as sweet because of the fruit forward nature of our wines. And there\u2019s this language thing, where people taste \u2018fruit\u2019 and they think \u2018sweet\u2019, but the wines are bone dry. That takes a bit of getting used to if you\u2019re a Frenchman \u2013 you taste New Zealand wine and think \u2018it\u2019s jungle juice\u2019 Have you heard of a fella \u2013 Yves Cuilleron<\/strong>?\u00a0They stock his wines in New Zealand, and he\u2019s a much admired northern Rhone producer.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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He was the guest speaker at the Tongariro Syrah Conference a couple of years ago, but stayed the 3 days, taking part in all the tasting workshops. He stood up at the end, closing remarks and said \u201cI was delighted to get the invitation as it\u2019s my first trip to New Zealand. I travel the world a lot supporting my brands and talking to conferences. And I have never tasted wines from anywhere else in the world that remind me more of my home.\u201d Now, we want to taste of here! But I think he was talking about the weight, style, finesse, balance and length.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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WF<\/strong>: I think the Pinots are heading in that direction as well \u2013 weight, length, finesse. I sometimes struggle to see the differences on the palate of good New Zealand Syrah and Pinots, it\u2019s like they are aligning in characteristics.<\/p>

RM<\/strong>: We make our Syrah like a Pinot, with a lot of the same techniques.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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This our Quarter Acre Chardonnay. It comes from another old vineyard \u2013 Doc\u2019s Block<\/strong>. Mike Hewitt<\/strong> owns it and we\u2019ve been taking fruit from it since the first year we started. That\u2019s been the source of the Quarter Acre wine right through. 25 year old plus Mendoza and it ripens late in the season \u2013 it\u2019s a slow block. The growing seasons are so up and down now anyway in terms of heat and rainfall, quite volatile from a weather point of view.<\/p>

For our one-off chardonnay this year we\u2019ve done a skins-ferment chardonnay. We re-developed the chardonnay block, one of the Mangatahi<\/strong> blocks \u2013 planted 3 new clones of chardonnay side by side. Both new to us and new to New Zealand. And one of those clones has this really unusual muscat-like character that\u2019s almost Riesling-like as you walk up and taste the grapes. When we used our usual technique and thinking with it, we ended up making this really odd barrel-fermented muscat style of Chardonnay? Then we thought \u2018OK if it\u2019s going to do that, and it\u2019s got this flavour\u2026 let\u2019s figure out a one-off that makes the most of it\u2019 So we skin fermented it, left a bit of residual there, and un-fined and un-filtered. Natural\u2019ish wine. It\u2019s got this floral lift and smells as if it\u2019s going to be a bit sweet, and then it\u2019s not \u2013 only about 4grams. And to your point earlier \u2013 we learnt, because this is our third skins-ferment wine, and we learnt to be confident about leaving it on the skins, and not adding sulphur. A lot of things which we\u2019re applying to other wines. It\u2019s sold mostly through the Cellar Door, and really positive feedback.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u2018The Loom\u2019 Chardonnay is from old Mendoza vines here at Te Awanga \u2013 about the same age as the Quarter Acre \u2013 free draining, alluvial but a bit more volcanic ash with quite shallow topsoil. It\u2019s a much more textured old school style. We see a consistent character from this block and it always gets ripe, so it\u2019s just a question of how much heat there is in the season and how much natural acidity there is. So we handpick the Mendoza and run it straight to about 15 barrels. We look at the year and taste the wines and we might put half of the barrels into the cold room. Come spring, the other half at ambient temperature will go through malo, so that year it\u2019s 50% malo, for example.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: so when someone says it\u2019s 50% malo, is that how it\u2019s done \u2013 you just let half the content go through malo, and then put them together after \u2013 or is it possible to do it all but stop if halfway \u2013 to get that 50% – and is there a difference?<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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RM<\/strong>: You can do that. But that\u2019s a different thing. So what we\u2019re trying to create is texture and the right acid balance by using malo. Not really looking for flavour. If you want the process of malo to give you flavour, then the best way to do that is to stop it halfway. Because the process of malo turning malic acid into lactic acid, it produces diacytel \u2013 like butter. And if you stop it halfway through, then you\u2019re at full butter, whereas if you go through and then the lees work degrades the diacytel character. So it\u2019s possible to make \u2013 and this was actually my project when I did my Post-Grad at Lincoln\u2026 I produced a 100% malo Riesling that showed no malo characteristics but was richer and more textured, and lower acidity obviously.<\/p>

A lot of the flavour that people associate with malo – because the way the story has been told \u2013 is actually to do with natural ferment and lees contact and stirring. The flavour associated with malo \u2013 depending on how you handle it \u2013 can be buttery, or brulee; but probably more attributed to work on the lees.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Trademark Chardonnay<\/strong> is from a single vineyard on Havelock North Terraces<\/strong> – again, old vines; again, Mendoza \u2013 but this is the full tilt. It has a clay pan but the soils can get pretty puggy on a wet year, but it\u2019s relatively free-draining with alluvial gravels underneath. It can be a polarising wine. That\u2019s been judged as a \u2018no-award\u2019 at a New Zealand wineshow and Bob Campbell<\/strong> judged it as his top wine from Hawke\u2019s Bay of 2019. Robert Parker Wine Advocate<\/strong> in America gave it the top score 94 points for New Zealand Chardonnay for the year; and then it got no award somewhere else, in New Zealand. So it\u2019s a love or hate thing.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I\u2019m surprised because this seems to me to be a wine with great balance? I can\u2019t see too much to polarise in this? Something like the Tom<\/strong> from Church Road<\/strong>, yes \u2013 because it\u2019s so overt in it\u2019s a wine very much of \u2018style\u2019?<\/p>

RM<\/strong>: Well I agree with you and I\u2019ve always loved it!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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WF<\/strong>: You\u2019ve had a such a run of good years though.. you won\u2019t remember how to handle a bad one when it comes around again!<\/p>

RM<\/strong>: Let\u2019s hope. This year was dead easy.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: How did you cope with the situation though?<\/p>

RM<\/strong>: The beauty of being smaller is that we can be really careful about looking after our people, and making sure we adhered to all the rules; but we didn\u2019t have to make \u2018corporate\u2019 decisions about how Lockdown was going to look and how we\u2019re going to react as a business.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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It was just harvest, but a lot of extra thinking about how to mitigate risks of any possible transfer of the virus. It wasn\u2019t as much fun as a normal year, but the weather and fruit were amazing! Funnily enough things like, having the roads to ourselves \u2013 not getting caught up in traffic. But it did take a lot of the \u2018fun\u2019 out of it. Usually there\u2019s always a catch up between shifts, and have a beer a couple of times a week. There was none of that. It\u2019s easy to get yourself in a twist and spiral down a bit. Of course every region was different. There was a period of time after the announcement to go to level three and four, before we found out if the wine industry would be classed as essential or not, that was pretty stressful.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Quarter Acre Syrah<\/strong> is the wine that was probably our first big international accolade with the 2015, winning the Best International Syra<\/strong>h at the London IWC<\/strong>; Best International Syrah and then Best Red Wine of Show<\/strong> and then the Trademark won the Best International Syrah again two years later. Then the 2016 Trademark Syrah was in the International Top 100<\/strong> in Drinks Business Magazine<\/strong> in 2019.<\/p>

Quarter Acre is a combination from our Bridge Pa vineyard<\/strong> and some of some of the hillside slopes that we\u2019ve got. The Loom is from the vines out by the Cellar Door. Elephant Hill<\/strong> have some out on the slope behind their winery and on years when it\u2019s good, that\u2019s their best Syrah. Our experience is that we\u2019ve made a \u201917, \u201918 and now \u201919 and \u201920 and every one is a cracker. In terms of ripeness, aromatic, richness \u2013 and that\u2019s from young vines. All our Syrah is made in the same way \u2013 like pinots \u2013 they all have a cold soak, a little bit of whole bunch, 100% whole berry, all have a hot, natural ferment with plunging during the peak of ferment 3-4 times a day. And then buttoned right off. Then a relatively long time on skin, straight to barrel, then nothing until spring malo. Really hands-off traditional Pinot winemaking. The only major difference is the place that it comes from.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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WF<\/strong>: Do you have to be careful with the oak?<\/p>

RM<\/strong>: They\u2019ve all got a reasonable wodge of new wood as that helps with the age-ability and the future of the wines.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: are you one of those people who thinks that Syrah will be the best of Hawke\u2019s Bay?<\/p>

RM<\/strong>: I think so, we\u2019re world famous for it. We\u2019ve got the dirt for it, it\u2019s just that everyone has planted Cabernet and, particularly, Merlot. I think Syrah has the potential and has the characteristic that Pinot has \u2013 to reflect its site beautifully. So when you grow Bordeaux in New Zealand it\u2019s about getting it ripe. Ripeness is everything and site is less imprtant. Whereas Syrah and Pinot it\u2019s more about where it comes from. There\u2019s no way you taste a red metals wine, and one from a hillside here, and think they\u2019re the same wine. But a ripe Merlot is just Hawke\u2019s Bay.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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When I left the Villa Group, our business plan was that we wanted to make New Zealand\u2019s great Syrah. That was what we set out to do. The reality is that when you\u2019re out on your own and your working capital is your mortgage, you pretty quickly work out that you\u2019ll go broke if you just make Syrah \u2013 two years in barrel, 12 months in bottle before you release it. It\u2019s a recipe for financial disaster. So by introducing new varieties as a business it makes a lot more sense. Now with business having some momentum, we can re-focus on the thing we started out to do.<\/p>

WF<\/strong>: I know and love your Chardonnays, and I think you are well known for those. But these Syrahs.. I\u2019ve had those wines that are considered the great New Zealand wines, and these Syrahs certainly stack up with those.<\/p>

RM<\/strong>: If you look at New Zealand\u2019s results in terms of those varietal Trophies from overseas \u2013 the world thinks the same. They pick out New Zealand Syrah \u2013 whether it\u2019s ours or the Homage that won James Suckling\u2019s top award. They like our Chardonnays, and the Pinots, but the Syrahs are right up there with the very best.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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